< The 2014 Pension 40: The Battle Is On
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Daniel Loeb
Founder
Third Point
Last year: 18
In March 2014, Rhode Island’s $8 billion state pension fund redeemed $74.3 million from Daniel Loeb’s New York–based hedge fund firm Third Point in favor of funds with less exposure to the equity markets. Then–Rhode Island general treasurer (now Governor-elect) Gina Raimondo (No. 14) called the move strategic, attributing it to a more refined focus on allocation and overall returns by the pension fund. The now $17.5 billion Third Point had performed well compared with its peers, producing 24.7 percent returns in 2013, but it lagged the S&P 500 index. Critics, such as American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten (No. 3), have urged public pensions to invest in low-cost index funds rather than pricey hedge funds. In 2013 and 2014 the AFT called out a number of hedge funds, including Third Point, for undermining workers’ retirement security by accepting investments from the same pension plans their managers were pushing to eliminate. Loeb’s contributions to charter schools, advocacy group StudentsFirst New York and conservative New York think tank the Manhattan Institute Policy Research, which has supported scholars advocating the end of defined benefit plans, made him a target. Loeb has argued that his support of charter schools doesn’t reflect his views on pensions and that, contrary to unions’ beliefs, StudentsFirstNY and the Manhattan Institute have no house policies on pensions.
The 2014 Pension 40
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Bruce Rauner Illinois | John and Laura Arnold Laura and John Arnold Foundation | Randi Weingarten American Federation of Teachers | Rahm Emanuel Chicago | David Boies Boies, Schiller & Flexner |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Randy DeFrehn National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans | Damon Silvers AFL-CIO | Laurence Fink BlackRock | Chris Christie New Jersey | Robin Diamonte United Technologies Corp. |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Ted Eliopoulos California Public Employees’ Retirement System | John Kline Minnesota | J. Mark Iwry U.S. Treasury Department | Gina Raimondo Rhode Island | Phyllis Borzi U.S. Labor Department |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Orrin Hatch Utah | Abigail Johnson Fidelity Investments | Ted Wheeler Oregon | Caitlin Long Morgan Stanley | James Hoffa International Brotherhood of Teamsters |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| Amy Kessler Prudential Financial | Alejandro García Padilla Puerto Rico | Christopher Klein U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Caifornia | Steven Rhodes Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan | Kevin de León California |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| David Draine Pew Charitable Trusts | Jordan Marks National Public Pension Coalition | Sam Liccardo California | Joshua Rauh Stanford Graduate School of Business | Karen Ferguson and Karen Friedman Pension Rights Center |
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 |
| Timothy Blake Moody’s Investors Service | Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Center for Retirement Initiatives, Georgetown University | Edward (Ted) Siedle Benchmark Financial Services | Daniel Loeb Third Point | Judy Mares Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Labor Department |
| 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 |
| Andrew Biggs American Enterprise Institute | Andy Stern Columbia University | Kenneth Mehlman KKR & Co. | Teresa Ghilarducci New School for Social Research | A. Melissa Moye U.S. Treasury Department |
